The men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 1972 Olympic Games

1972 Summer Olympics

The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....

 took place between September 2 and 3. This swimming

Swimming (sport)

Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

 event used freestyle swimming

Freestyle swimming

Freestyle is an unregulated swimming style used in swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. The front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle race, as this style is generally the fastest...

, which means that the method of the stroke is not regulated (unlike backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events). Nearly all swimmers use the front crawl

Front crawl

The front crawl, forward crawl, or freestyle is a swimming stroke usually regarded as the fastest of the four front primary strokes. As such, the front crawl stroke is nearly universally used during a freestyle swimming competition, hence the synonymously used term "freestyle". It is one of two...

 or a variant of that stroke. Because an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, this race consisted of two lengths of the pool.

Medalists

Final

Rank	Athlete	Country	Time	Notes
	Mark Spitz Mark Spitz Mark Andrew Spitz is a retired American swimmer. He won seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, an achievement only surpassed by Michael Phelps who won eight golds at the 2008 Olympics....		51.22	WR
	Jerry Heidenreich Jerry Heidenreich Jerry Heidenreich was an American swimmer and Olympic champion. He competed at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, where he received a gold medal in 4×100 m medley relay, and a gold medal in 4×100 m freestyle relay. He received a silver medal in 100 m freestyle, and a...		51.65
	Vladimir Bure Vladimir Bure Vladimir Valeryevich Bure is a retired Soviet Olympic swimmer and a fitness coach for the New Jersey Devils of the NHL. Bure is the father of NHL players Pavel and Valeri Bure.-USSR:...		51.77
4	John Murphy John Murphy (swimmer) John Joseph Murphy is a former backstroke and freestyle swimmer from the United States, who won the gold medal in the men's 4×100m freestyle relay at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. At the same tournament, the 19-year old also collected a bronze medal in the 100m backstroke.-...		52.08
5	Mike Wenden		52.41
6	Igor Grivennikov		52.44
7	Michel Rousseau		52.90
8	Klaus Steinbach Klaus Steinbach Klaus Steinbach is a former World Record holding and Olympic freestyle swimmer from Germany. He swam for Germany at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics....		52.92

Key: WR = World record